Aoun to Hezbollah: 'Better a thousand external enemies than one internally'

President Joseph Aoun on Sunday renewed his call for direct negotiations with Israel to prevent southern Lebanon from becoming “a new Gaza,” in a speech delivered on the sidelines of the Easter Mass in Bkirki.

“It is true that Israel may want to do to South Lebanon what it did to Gaza... The Palestinian enclave was destroyed, more than 70,000 people died, and then they had to negotiate,” warned the head of state in his first address broadcast live since the resumption of the war on March 2.

The president of the republic affirmed that under such circumstances, his priority remained “maintaining civil peace,” warning that any threat to internal stability was “a red line.” “No one wants discord, because the Lebanese are weary of war. Better a thousand enemies outside than one inside. Whoever tries to undermine civil peace is serving Israel,” he said.

Aoun then addressed Hezbollah, some of whose figures have reiterated their threats of civil war should negotiations with Israel begin during a period of war. “Some people ask about negotiations: ‘What will we gain by negotiating?’ I answer: What did you gain with your war? Why not negotiate to put an end to these tragedies... to save what remains of homes that have not yet been destroyed? Negotiation is not capitulation, diplomacy is not submission. Our efforts continue to end the killings and destruction,” he emphasized.

The president also warned against attacks against the Lebanese Army, recalling “its central role in protecting the country and its people,” regardless of political considerations. He finally assured that “there is no imminent risk of civil war,” estimating that “the population remains aware of the dangers of internal escalation.”

Rai's homily

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, who shed a few tears during his homily, declared that returning to war was “unacceptable for the people.” “Lebanon is going through a delicate phase, with accumulating crises and intertwined challenges. Destruction, deaths and displacement, attacks and repeated violations of territory and sovereignty, economic, financial, and social crises that have weighed heavily on citizens, weakening of public institutions, and a general situation that has plunged the country into a state of anxiety and paralysis,” he enumerated.

The patriarch concluded: “These aggressions and wars are unacceptable for the state as well as for the people, because they undermine human dignity and jeopardize the country's stability, and can in no way be accepted as a fait accompli.”